Next
is one of the world's most famous directors, Cecil B. DeMille(1881-1959),
the man who shot the first full-length movie in Hollywood ("The
Squaw Man"), founded nearby Paramount
Pictures, and went on to make such classics as "The Ten Commandments,"
"King of Kings" and "The Greatest Show on
Earth."

He even played himself in a Hollywood classic, "Sunset
Blvd." You will remember that movie's final line, in which a crazed
Gloria Swanson descends the stairs, proclaiming
"I'm ready for my close-up,Mr. DeMille!"

His large tomb, containing two matching stone sarcophagi,
is easy to spot. From Janet Gaynor's grave, just walk northeast.
DeMille's tomb is out near the street curb.

Now,
walk around the far north bend of the lake, past the statue of an angel
holding up a cross, to the lake's west side, and you'll find grave of John Huston(1906-1987),
farther out near the road. (I'm told that there is now a large bush of yellow flowers growing at his grave.)

Huston was the veteran director who gave us
such classics as "The Maltese Falcon," "The
AfricanQueen" and "Prizzi's Honor."

Huston was portrayed by Clint Eastwood
in the 1990 film "White Hunter, Black Heart."

His headstone has gold lettering and is surrounded
by small flowers and plants.

Walk
a little farther south from Huston's grave, right next to a small tree
by the road, and you can find the grave of character actor Adolphe Menjou(1890-1963), who was voted "the best-dressed man in America" nine times.

Incidentally, he appeared with Janet Gaynor
in 1937's "A Star is Born," (he played
the studio boss to her aspiring actress role,) as well as in dozens of
other films, from "The Sheik" (1921) to "Pollyanna."
(1960).

Back
around to the south side of the lake, right across the street from the
Fairbanks pool, is the belated memorial to actress Hattie McDaniel(1895-1952),
the first African-American actress to win an Academy Award.

She won for Best Supporting Actress, for playng "Mammy"
in the 1939 classic "Gone With the Wind."

It
was Hattie's last wish to be buried in a white casket at Hollywood Forever,
next to her fellow stars. But back in those days, racist laws prohibited
burying black people in "white cemeteries." So instead, Hattie
was buried over in Rosedale Cemetery.

But some 47 years after her death, the new owners
of Hollywood Forever did their best to right that wrong. Hattie's
family didn't want to move her remains at this late date, so the cemetery
did the next best thing - they've built a memorial to Hattie, on the lawn
overlooking the lake.

You can't miss it - it's the large pink stone pillar
between the curb and the lake, across from the Fairbanks grave.

Most
of the stars buried at Hollywood Forever reached their zenith in the 1920's,
30's & 40's. But there are a few newer names here as well.

Closer to the road, and a few steps to the west,
you can't miss the large statue of a young man playing an electric guitar.
This is the memorial to Johnny Ramone (1948-2004),
the guitarist and founding member of "The Ramones".

The definitive American punk rock group, the Ramones
(along with groups like The Clash and the Sex Pistols) stripped
rock & roll down to its basic four chords and sped up the beat. Unlike
other punk bands that disappeared after a season or two, the Ramones began
in 1974 and lasted until 1996. Loud and fast. The turned out a string of
songs like "Blitzkrieg Bop"
("Hey! Ho! Let's Go!") and contributed to movies
such as "Steven King's Pet Semetary" and "Rock
and Roll High School".

Johnny was cremated, but his ashes aren't here -
yet. They were given to his wife, who reportedly plans to have
both of their remains interred at the statue after her death.

The memorial stands between the lake and the
Fairbanks memorial.

From
the Johnny Ramone statue, look up and to your left (northwest) a little,
and you'll see a small white bench not far from the lake edge. There's
a small tree growing behind the bench. Walk over to the bench, look down,
and you'll find the modest grave of one of Hollywood's true legends, Fay
Wray(1907-2004).

Is there anyone who doesn't remember the original
B&W, 1933 version of "King Kong", where the monster
ape carries the screaming girl in his hairy fist, up the side of Manhattan's
Empire State Building, swatting at the bi-planes that attempt to shoot
him down?

"King Kong" was remade in the 70's, and again in 2005,
but the original film will always remain a classic for the ages.

The girl held in the giant gorilla's fist, the "Beauty
that killed the Beast", was none other than Fay Wray.

She had made 50 other films before "Kong",
starting with silent movies, and made another 40+ afterwards, ending in
1980 with TV's "Gideon's Trumpet" - but she will
always be remembered as the girl in "King Kong".

She lived
to be almost 97 years old. (She was offered the role of "Old Rose" in "Titanic", but declined it.

Just a little to the east of the Hattie McDaniel memorial, near the curb
across from the Cathedral mausoleum, you should notice the large, white
double tomb of Harry Cohn (1891-1958),
the movie mogul who founded Columbia
Pictures. He picked this spot himself, because it was close to
his old studio. (The tomb is
just to the east of the Cutts family mausoleum).

A
few steps away, you'll find the simple grave of singer-actor Nelson
Eddy(1901-1967) (Lot
89), who starred in all those M-G-M musicals with Jeanette
MacDonald, such as "Rose Marie," "Naughty
Marietta" and "New Moon."

He also had his footprints immortalized in the
cement outside of Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

His
grave is located near the edge of the lawn, just across the street (north)
from the entrance to the Hollywood Cathedral Mausoleum. The marker simply
reads: "NelsonEddy. June 29, 1901 - March 6, 1967".
To find it, locate the small curbside marker that says "Section 8
" (near the fork in the road outside the mausoleum). Just to the north
of this marker you will see what looks like a small rose garden, with two
thin cypress trees. Nelson Eddy's
marker is nestled up against the edging stones that border the north side
of this small garden area, four markers to the west of a large palm tree,
and just a few yards southeast of the two twin cypress trees.

[ Update: as of 2015, Nelson's grave
has changed a lot since I shot this photo. The flowers are gone,
for instance, as are the edging tones. I will update the photo
the next time I visit the park. ]

In between Nelson Eddy and Harry Cohn is the grave of
composerWalter Jurmann (1903-1971),
who wrote the lyrics for the hit song "San Francisco,"
as well as for the Marx Bros' "A Day at the Races"
and "A Night at the Opera." His grave is
about 10 spaces to the right (west) of Nelson, and one row up.

Now it's time to conclude our virtual tour with a look
at a few celebrity graves that I found just recently - although one
of them is the earliest star of them all...

[This
is page five of a six-page article. Click
here to go to page one.]

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